Hebrews 10:22-23 “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

In a day when many are falling away verse 22 admonishes us to draw near and fellowship to God. Paul was calling the Hebrew Christians to come and commune with God which in a culture steeped in Judaism would have been considered crazy. Judaism provided no direct access yet here was free access to the holy-of-holies without fear of death. These new believers had walked away from a very complex religious system and stepped into the simple faith offered by Christ. As a result they were both unpopular and unwelcome in their communities, and often ostracized by their families. As they experienced great persecution Paul encouraged them to seek the sanctuary of the Savior. Today we need to come into His presence and experience His provision in the problems. We can come to the Father through faith by the:

• BLOOD

Because of the Savior we are no longer separated by sin. Yet today we have shied away from talking about the blood that broke the boundary and gave us access to the Father; we seem to be more bothered by the blood than blessed. But we come into His presence based on the blood of Jesus Christ and even when we arrive at the throne, we do not have a voice but that of the blood. In Egypt the only voice that caused the Angel of death to pass over was the blood. It was the blood rubbed on the doorposts and lintels of the house that provided the blessing of protection. The blood sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat paid our sin debt so we no longer have to carry the dirt and guilt that sin has stained us with. We can worship in His presence because we are washed by His provision. Not only are we forgiven and free but the blood also gives us an audience with the Almighty, the blessing of the blood means we can be:

• BOLD

The blood should cause us to draw near to God’s presence with boldness yet one of the greatest challenges in the Christian life today seems to be communing with the Father. For many communing with God seems to cramp their style, journeying into the presence of God has become a job instead of a joy. Today we have compartmentalized the Christian life, choosing to commute between Christ and commerce as we try to coast on the comforts of capitalism. Yet Paul’s call wasn’t about calculating the cost but coming into God’s presence to do life with the Lord. How close with Jesus do you journey? Have you substituted doing life with the Lord for a split personality of straddling the fence? Trying to dancing between two different worlds, with one foot in living for self and the other for the Savior? Living with the Lord, communing with our creator is the sum total of all that we engage in, in our Christian life. Jesus didn’t tear the veil in two so we could commune in the courtyard but so that we could come in. Yet for many today we have become more comfortable doing life in the outer court than the holy of holies. Paul calls for believers to live with boldness, to advance into the inner place of peace in God’s presence. Today we have traded bold lives for boring ones choosing to live on the fringes instead of communing with the Father. Psalm 73:25-28 reminds us of the power, peace and protection of His presence “25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. 28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds” “Let us draw near to God” is a call to rest in the Redeemer instead of run from Him. Many of us are living like great Old Testament runner Jonah, God wanted to bring him and the people of Nineveh near to Himself but Jonah chose to run. You may not be running from God but if you are not resting in Him your life will still result in ruin. We all know the rich young ruler who wanted to come to Jesus on his own terms and when Jesus rejected those terms, the rich young ruler walked away from God. Today you may have pushed God away because of the pain and the problems, choosing to reject His presence yet you have no peace. Are you drawing near to God or are you drowning?

• BELIEVE

The full assurance of faith means not only that I come boldly but I come believing, life with the Lord means looking past the impossible.   Today we get hung up with the probable and practical instead of the power. The full assurance of faith means that the words, “it can’t be done” do not come out of my mouth because I believe that Jesus can do the impossible. Having faith doesn’t mean being mindless, it is not some blind leap into the dark. Being a Christian does not mean that I lose the ability to think or that I no longer can look at the facts. Instead, it means my focus is on the Father no matter what the facts say. While the facts point to death faith is pointing to an empty tomb and today I chose to rest in the results of our risen Redeemer. Psalm 145:18 reminds us that “The Lord is near to all who call on him” Paul is calling us to come in faith, to trust in the finished work of the cross with the full assurance that we are forgiven. To come with a true heart not a hypocritical one, willing to surrender and serve to the Savior. Under the New Covenant believers have the privilege of drawing near to God through the blood of Jesus. Have you responded to the invitation to come in from the courtyard and fellowship with the Father?

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 – “Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. 14 And do everything with love.”

Paul has called us to stay alert, to be watchful over our relationship with God, with others and ourselves. We must be honest and truthful with God, with others and with ourselves as we watch against the appearance of sin, the occasion to sin and the temptation to sin. We are to watch and pray as Jesus taught us, “Lead us not into temptation.” Paul also called us to be steadfast in the faith dealing with where we are standing, how we are standing and why we are standing. To stand fast involves keeping the ranks, not to be disorderly but determined to keep the ranks unbroken as we stand together. We are standing on the word of God because we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. We are called to stand up for God, on the word of God, and with the saints of God, “Together we stand and divided we fall.” Now Paul calls us to:

• Show up

The cultural allusion here is of an experienced soldier in the first century, and a picture of courage gained from being proven on the battlefield. This phrase literally translates Act like men, my modern-day translation would go like this “suck it up, stop whining and start winning”. Today we waste our time whining about the good old days, we lament the past while losing the present.  To act like a man means to accept responsibility, step up to the plate and stay there. Men, I don’t care what the culture says, we are needed and it’s time to rise up and fight for our families. When we abandon our post the family fails, you are a soldier of Christ, so stand up, show up and suck it up. Holding the line, stand firm in the faith takes courage which is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it, Martin Luther King, Jr said “We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” Christian courage is the willingness to say and do the right thing for an eternal cause regardless of the earthly cost. We are in a war and we will be attacked so don’t get offended, it’s not about your rights it’s about the Redeemer. Unfortunately today we seem to care more about our rights than doing what is right. We must develop a warfare mentality, in this fight we need fortitude so we can be focused, firm and fixed. When you are attacked, don’t flinch or fall back, maintain your ground, resist what is wrong with right and hold the line of holiness. Be brave, don’t break, stare fear in the face let your battle cry be “bring it” because this fight has already been won. The enemy may wound you but he won’t win, death has been defeated and you have been delivered. Focus on the finished work of Christ, stand on the foundation of faith where fear fails. We have courage because even though they crucified Christ on the cross He rose to roll away the barrier. Today instead of courage we have cowards because we have traded our courage for comfort; we crave the convenient care free life. We live in fantasy world where we fool ourselves into thinking we can have an enemy and an easy life. Courage comes because of conflict not comfort, convenience and a care free life. Having trained the church and our children to pursue the American dream we are now living in its nightmare. Christ calls us to raise warriors that resist the world not revel in it.  We need both physical and emotional courage to face the pain, hardship, and threat of death, as we respond rightly in the face of popular opposition, shaming and scorn.

This admonition to be courageous speaks soundly to the Corinthian cultural pluralism and ours, Paul is telling us to resist the rip tide of cultural currents. The call to be men of courage spiritually would have been unpopular even unacceptable behavior in first century Corinth. It could have meant a loss of stature in society, a loss of jobs and economic opportunity, the loss of friends and yet Paul wants them to stand on the standard that God has set. He is telling them they know the truth, and now they must live the truth and that takes courage in our culture. Spiritual steadfastness demands courageous application of the truth, unfettered support for the standard of what is spiritually true. If we truly believe the bible then we are called to bold opposition to what we know is false instead of bowing. Today the question facing the church is this, will we be courageous enough to confront the controversy of our culture?

• Be strong

This literally is translated be strengthened, if we are to be strong for God we must be strong in God. It is in the passive voice, as opposed to the first three admonitions of the passage. When Paul tells his readers to be on guard, to stand firm, and to be people of courage, he is telling them things they are to do. When he tells them to be strong, however, he is referring to a willingness to allow God to strengthen them, something God does to them in them and for them, not something they can do for themselves. The instruction is to submit to the strengthening power and work of our Savior, being strong for His cause and one another starts with submission to the supremacy of the Savior. In Ephesians 6:10 we are called to “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” The strength He gives us enables us to stand firm in His spiritual truth and to courageously confront our culture with care.  For us in a 21st century culture, faced with spiritual pluralism, we must stand firm in spiritual truths as we apply them with courage. Our part is to be on guard, to recognize and know what is spiritually right and wrong, and to act with courage. God’s part is to strengthen us.

• Sacrifice

Paul’s call to battle now takes a strange turn, “And do everything with love.” We are to war in such a way that God is glorified, believers are inspired, Satan is terrified and people are loved. We are to be steadfast and immovable because we are working for God, on behalf of His kingdom for the benefit of others. What moves and motivates us is not a desire to win the war, Christ has already done that, but to witness to the world.  We should let our love for God and others be the motive that moves us to sacrifice in this war. Love may seem like an impotent way but it’s what Paul calls the more excellent way in I Corinthians 12:31, because love wins the lost. Paul reminds us that the sum of all the commandments towards God and towards our neighbor is love. Any service rendered as a soldier of Christ void of love is a violation. Christ came not to conquer mankind but to call them to Himself and He did that through love, serving, sacrificial love. As a soldier you are called to stand up, show up, suck it up and sacrificially serve. So no matter where in this world you sit right now as you read this my challenge to you is today will you stand with me strong in the Savior?